
RNA-Seq is not required to determine stable reference genes for qPCR normalization
Author(s) -
Nirmal Kumar Sampathkumar,
Venkat Krishnan Sundaram,
Prakroothi S. Danthi,
Rasha Barakat,
Solon Solomon,
Mrityunjoy Mondal,
Ivo Carre,
Tatiana El Jalkh,
Aïda Padilla-Ferrer,
Julien Grenier,
Charbel Massaad,
Jacqueline C. Mitchell
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
plos computational biology/plos computational biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.628
H-Index - 182
eISSN - 1553-7358
pISSN - 1553-734X
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009868
Subject(s) - reference genes , normalization (sociology) , gene , rna seq , biology , computational biology , database normalization , rna , gene expression profiling , gene expression , genetics , computer science , transcriptome , artificial intelligence , pattern recognition (psychology) , sociology , anthropology
Assessment of differential gene expression by qPCR is heavily influenced by the choice of reference genes. Although numerous statistical approaches have been proposed to determine the best reference genes, they can give rise to conflicting results depending on experimental conditions. Hence, recent studies propose the use of RNA-Seq to identify stable genes followed by the application of different statistical approaches to determine the best set of reference genes for qPCR data normalization. In this study, however, we demonstrate that the statistical approach to determine the best reference genes from commonly used conventional candidates is more important than the preselection of ‘stable’ candidates from RNA-Seq data. Using a qPCR data normalization workflow that we have previously established; we show that qPCR data normalization using conventional reference genes render the same results as stable reference genes selected from RNA-Seq data. We validated these observations in two distinct cross-sectional experimental conditions involving human iPSC derived microglial cells and mouse sciatic nerves. These results taken together show that given a robust statistical approach for reference gene selection, stable genes selected from RNA-Seq data do not offer any significant advantage over commonly used reference genes for normalizing qPCR assays.